DELILAH TOO: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF PRIVACY by DEREK HOLZER
A proposal for the Goethe-Institut London and SPACE Perlin Noise – Sound Art Residency 2015
[email protected] http://macumbista.net
Clipping, damping, amplitude compression, electronic differentiation, and integration of random speech—it produced an engineer’s parody of human speech. It was as if someone had taken it into his head to dismantle [the Black Sea towns of] New Athos or Gurzuf, put the material in little cubes in matchboxes, mix them all up, fly the lot to [Siberian] Nerchinsk, sort them out, and reassemble them precisely as they were before, reproducing the subtropics, the sound of the surf, the southern air, and moonlight.
--Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, "The First Circle" (1968)
[keywords: vocoder, noise, privacy, public speech, cryptography, media archaeology, sound art, installation] ABSTRACT
Taking it's name from the advanced speech security system developed by Alan Turing in the Second World War, "DELILAH TOO" proposes a media-archaeological model of voice encryption as a method to protect privacy while still speaking in the public sphere. Technologically, "DELILAH TOO" is based on the voice-scrambling capabilities of the vocoder--a device far better known for its role in the history of electronic music than for it's cryptographic potential. The work takes the shape of a public sound art installation, requiring the participation of the audience to be fully appreciated.
INTRODUCTION
The desire to speak privately in a public space has spurred technological developments since antiquity. The Echo Hall in Ancient Greek Olympia was reportedly built as a massive echo chamber of acoustic confusion, preventing eavesdroppers from hearing conversations unless they were standing directly in front of the speaker. Similarly, the 17th Century Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher imagined elaborate architectural tubes and passages to convey sounds secretly between public and private spaces.
But it was radio, that harbinger of Modernism, which opened up the public sphere in the most radical way possible. Suddenly, a broadcast voice could conceivably be heard by anyone, anywhere around the world. But not every voice wished to be heard by anyone. So with the dawn of the radio era came a new wave in the age-old art of secrecy, with one singular device at its core: the vocoder.
A voice-scrambling device which later would be better associated with the music of Kraftwerk and Funkadelic, the vocoder began it's life as a 50 ton monster known as SIGSALY. This Allied military voice- encipherment system employed matched pairs of one-time-use vinyl records of random thermal noise, played back simultaneously on precision-timed turntables at both ends of encrypted military radio communications during World War II.
In 1943, the British cryptanalyst who broke the German Enigma code, and one of the father-figures of modern computing, Alan Turing proposed his own vocoder, the Delilah machine as a portable voice- encryption system. Prototypes were completed in 1944, however it was never used in the field.
While Turing was officially persecuted for his homosexuality, Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned for his political views and forced to work on a Soviet version of speech encipherment between 1947-50 -- an experience upon which he based his later novel The First Circle. Both men would have intuitively understood the need to converse in public without their intentions (political, social, sexual or otherwise) falling on the wrong ears, and therefore it is not entirely coincidental that both men would be employed by their governments to hide state secrets in a wall of broadcast noise. THE DELILAH TOO INSTALLATION
"DELILAH TOO" is conceived as a two-way communications channel for encrypted public speech. While the original vocoders functioned in the etheric agora of radio waves, "DELILAH TOO" substitutes this with the physical space of the exhibition hall or another public location.
At either end of this space stand two identical cabins, each visibly equipped with both a loudspeaker and a microphone on the outside. Inside, each cabin will be equipped with a vocoding device, along with a matrix mixer which controls how the channels of vocal information are encoded and decoded, and a pair of headphones, small microphones and a button allowing them to talk (instead of listen). Participants standing inside the PRIVATE SPACE of each of these cabins have the opportunity to speak with each other through the PUBLIC SPACE. However, as their voices are encrypted before they reach the loudspeakers, and decrypted once they reach the other PRIAVTE SPACE, the content of these conversations between the PRIVATE SPACES should be completely indecipherable to anyone standing in the PUBLIC SPACE.
What is heard within the PUBLIC SPACE sounds more akin to a kind of abstract electronic music, composed of the frequency bands of the speakers' voices scrambled and modulated by noise and specific tones. The key used to encode and decode speech is produced by a console in the center of the PUBLIC SPACE, which participants have a possibility to influence. This key is created by a generative algorithm, and parameters of this algorithm can be controlled by simple knobs and buttons on the console--making it a kind of interactive composition for the participants to play. New keys are generated in steps, at a tempo and rhythm determined by the interaction with the composition. Once generated, the key is then sent to each of the PRIVATE SPACES. Thus, the audience in the PUBLIC SPACE can influence the sonic character of what they themselves hear, but have no control over the content of what is actually spoken.
DELILAH TOO construction view (Berlin, 2015) DEMONSTRATION SKETCH https://soundcloud.com/macumbista/delilah-too-demo
In this short demonstration sketch, we first hear the original voice reading Fernando Pessoa's "I’ve gone to bed with every feeling", then the scrambled signal, and finally the unscrambled signal. PROJECT HISTORY
DELILAH TOO was initailly developed in Berlin DE and in residency at the Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst (http://www.edith-russ-haus.de), in Oldenburg DE, with financial support from the Grants for Media Art 2014 of the Foundation of Lower Saxony, during the second half of 2014. The work premiered in its first form at the CTM Festival (http://ctm-festival.de) in Berlin DE in January 2015.
During the CTM exhibition, an acoustic transmission system between two sound-isolated cabins (provided by a simultaneous translation company) was employed, and the work was largely shown as a public-interactive installation. At various times, volunteers were also asked to read, speak or sing texts in any language they chose through the system into the room, giving the work a more performative quality and also providing opportunities for visitors to interact with the volunteers through the system.
As of today (15 FEB 2015), the work has one more week on display before the close of the exhibition. Audio, video and photographic documentation is still in production and can be provided on request at a later date.
A further version of the piece will take place in Oldenburg during June of 2015. Working together with local amateur theater and political discussion groups, I hope to use the system as a springboard to examine the inclusive/exclusive nature of language and discourse systems.
Original 1944 Delilah machine by Alan Turing, Bletchley Park, UK.
STATEMENT OF INTENT DELILAH TOO installation (Berlin, 2015)
While this piece has been previously exhibited, I do not believe it has reached anything like a fixed or final form. Therefore, there are a number of areas left to develop which could be expored during a residency at the White Building.
Technically, there are a number of improvemtns which could be made to the sound quality and, in particular, the system used to transmit encoded speech between the two PRIVATE SPACES. In Berlin, a simple acoustic system of speaker-to-microphone was employed, with very mixed results. Because every element in the environment, including the quality of the speakers, the acoustics of the room, the noise of the surroundings and the placement of the microphones, greatly influenced the intelligability of the speech at the decoding end of the transmission, I have been considering several more-robust systems including lasers and infra-red transmitters. Such implementations could improve both the intelligability of the conversations and the distance at which they could take place. A strong enough laser system, for example, could allow encoded conversations between different locations in the city, provided there was line-of-sight possible.
However, the DELILAH TOO is not merely a technical system in search of deployment. Whenever two or more people come into contact, whether mediated by technology or not, what you have is also a social system at play. My experience with the exhibition in Berlin -- where a great many visitors simply treated the work as some sort of "sonic cash machine", pushing buttons and waiting for their immediate gratification rather than giving any meaningful content into the system -- makes me rather skeptical of a purely interactive-installation approach. I am strongly drawn towards the idea of using performers to guide the public's experience of the work, and to this end it would greatly interest me to collaborate with writers and performers in London to develop a presentation of this work which addresses the ideas of privacy vs public speech, inclusion/exclusion, and the symbolic nature of language vs the real aspects of sound which I find central to the work. DELILAH TOO construction view (Berlin, 2015) CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I assert that what I have to offer the Goethe-Institut London and SPACE Perlin Noise Sound Art Residency 2015 is not a completed work, but rather a work-in-process which can benefit greatly from the resources this residency has to offer. The opportunity to work with London's art and science community on technical aspects of the piece alone is priceless, but in combination with the chance to integrate the project into the various social and philosophical discourse communities that exist in the city (perhaps through my existing connections with Goldsmith's University) I see the potential for a very well-rounded development of how DELILAH TOO functions and what it can communicate.
I can also assure you that I am quite comfortable discussing the project and it's context in my body of work and the context of media archaeology in a public setting, as well as demonstrating both the existing and newly-developed aspects of the project. I would be happy to provide examples of previous lectures on the topics of media archaeology, the compositional process of DIY electronics, the history of optical synthesis and the development of the vocoder as a cryptological and musical tool.
One of the central ideas of my work is a healthy skepticism in the notion of progress and a belief that radical changes in technology have not radically changed the kinds of problems we face because of those technologies. So rather than chase the latest digital developments to cure the latest digital dilemmas, one can also seek to see how these issues were addressed in earlier times and by more "primitive" means. This media archaeological approach does not simply fetishize "oldness", but also proposes how aspects of obsolete and abandoned technologies might address both the utopias and dystopias faced by our contemporary situation. I find this in particular resonates well with your stated purpose of "tak[ing] a critical/analytical stance towards emergent technologies", and my work with the talking machines of the Second World War in this case provides an excellent case study into these ideas.I look forward to your responses to this proposal.
Derek Holzer Berlin, 16 FEB 2015 Macumbista live performance (Tenerife, 2011) ABOUT THE ARTIST
Derek Holzer (1972) is an American instrument builder and sound artist based in Berlin DE, whose current interests include DIY analog electronics, the relationship between sound + space, media archaeology and the meeting points of electroacoustic, noise, improv and extreme music. He has performed live, taught workshops and created scores of unique instruments and installations since 2002 across Europe, North and South America, and New Zealand.
Derek Holzer Richard-Sorge-Str 82 Berlin 10249 Germany [email protected] http://macumbista.net +49 176 28123 5845 TONEWHEELS opto-electronic sound instrument (Pau, 2012) SELECTED PERFORMANCES
MACUMBISTA TONEWHEELS –FACTO, Fonoteca National, Mexico City MX (2014) -–Edith Russ Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg DE –Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin DE (2014) (2014) –BITEVILNIUS Festival, Vilnius LT (2014) –Manege, Moscow RU (2014) –Tsonami Festival, Valparaiso CL (2013) –Rotterdam International Film Festival, NL (2014) –Michael Strogoff Gallery, Marfa TX USA (2013) –Eye for an Ear Festival, Berlin DE (2013) –SPLAB/Det Jyske Kunstakademi, Aarhus DK (2012)–Le Festival Accès(s), Pau FR (2012) –Norberg Festival, Norberg SE (2012) –Multiplace Festival, Brno CZ (2011) –Student Centre, Zagreb HR (2012) –Museum of Fine Arts, Dijon FR (2010) –Electric Spring Fest, University of Huddersfield, –Danish Institute of Electro/acoustic Music, Aarhus Huddersfield UK (2012) DK (2010) –Musikhuset/Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, –Bent Festival, New York City NY USA (2010) Aarhus DK (2011 –Goldsmiths, London, UK (2009) –Musraramix #11 Festival, Jerusalem IL (2011) –KUMU, Tallinn, EE (2009) –Apparat, Aalborg DK (2010) –Nu-Fest, Padova IT (2008) –International Symposium of Electronic Art, –Lab.30 Festival, Augsburg, DE (2008) Dortmund DE (2010) –Almost Cinema Festival, Gent, BE (2008) –UH Fest, Budapest HU (2010) –Full Pull Festival, Malmo, SE (2008) –WORM, Rotterdam, NL (2009) –NETMAGE Festival, Bologna, IT (2008) –“Waves” Exhibition, Phoenix Halle, Dortmund, DE (2008) –Tesla, Berlin DE (2007) TONEWHEELS live performance (Marseilles, 2012) SELECTED PERFORMANCES, CONT. BIS ZUM TOD resonanCITY [w/ Markus Öhrn, Institutet [w/ Sara Kolster] & Ny Rampen] –Passengers International Festival of Public Art, –Inkonst, Malmö SE (2015) Warsaw, PL (2007) –Baltic Circle Festival, Helsinki FI (2014) –International Festival of Computer Arts, Maribor, SI –Zamek Culture Center, Poznan, PL (2014) (2007) –Volksbuhne, Berlin DE (2014) –Denver University, Denver, USA (2006) –Nationaltheater, Mannheim DE (2014) –Art Museum of Nantes, Nantes, FR (2005) –Awarded Second Prize, WRO Biennale, Wroclaw, PL (2005) –FILE Festival, Sao Paulo, BR (2005) RAND –Dutch Filmfestival, Utrecht, NL (2005) [w/ Rob Curgenven] –Transmediale, Berlin, DE (2005) –OT301, Amsterdam, NL (2007) –Videomedeja Festival, Novi Sad, SRB (2005) –
SOUND+SPACE AWARENESS PROGRAMING AUDIOVISUAL SYSTEMS –Marfa Book Company, Marfa TX USA (2013) –Pure Data, RISEBA, Riga LV (2011) –RISEBA, Riga LV (2012) –Werkleitz, Halle, DE (2008) –Carleton College/IES Abroad, Berlin DE (2011) –Royal Art Academy, Copenhagen, DK (2008) –Tuned City/Give Me 5, Nuremberg DE (2011) –Videographe, Montreal, CA (2006) –Aarhus University, Aarhus DK (2011) –Sibelius Academy, Helsinki FI (2006) –Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn EE (2011, 2012) –Denver University, Denver, USA (2006) –Danish Institute of Electro/acoustic Music, Aarhus –Film Department, University of Wisconsin, DK (2011) Milwaukee, USA (2006) –Harvestworks, New York City NY USA (2010) –BEK, Bergen, NO (2005) –Tuned City, Tallinn EE (2010) –Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, UK (2004) –Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Cologne DE –MUTE magazine, London, UK (2004) (2010) –Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst, Amsterdam, –De Paviljeons, Almere, NL (2008) NL (2004)
TONEWHEELS OTHER –Manege, Moscow RU (2014) –Create Digital Music Hacklab, CTM Festival, Berlin –University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield UK (2013) DE (2013) –DA Festival, Sofia, BG (2009) –Pure Data FLOSS Manual, NK Projekt, Berlin DE – “Waves” Exhibition, Phoenix Halle, Dortmund, DE (2010) (2008) –xxxxx_temporary_structures, Club Transmediale, Berlin, DE (2009) Rainforest installation (Copenhagen, 2012) SELECTED INSTALLATIONS
DELILAH TOO SOUNDTRANSIT –Edith Russ Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg DE [w/ Sara Kolster, Marc Boon] (2015) –De Paviljeons, Almere, NL (2008) –CTM Festival, Berlin DE (2015) –Galerija Galzenica, Velika Gorica, HR (2008) –Art Center Nabi, Seoul KR (2006) TONEWHEELS –Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth NZ (2006) –Le Festival Accès(s), Pau FR (2012)
RAINFOREST OZONE [w/ Mads Bech Paluszewski-Hau] [w/ Bas van Koolwijk] –LAK Festival for Nordic Sound Art, Copenhagen DK –WAVES Festival, Riga LV (2006) (2012) –European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrück DE –BYiBY, Aarhus DK (2012) (2004) –Full Pull Festival, Malmö SE (2011) –Medienturm, Graz AT (2003) –Club Transmediale, Berlin, DE (2011) –Piksel Festival, Bergen NO (2010) DELILAH TOO installation (Berlin, 2015) RESIDENCIES SELECTED CURATION
–Signal Culture Toolmaker Residency, Owego NY –LAK Festival for Nordic Sound Art, Copenhagen DK USA (2015) (2013) –Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art, Oldenburg DE –Tuned City, Cultural Capital 2011, Tallinn EE (2011) (2014) –Sommercampworkstation, Haus der Kulturen der –MAAJAAM, Otepää EE (2013, 2014) Welt, Berlin, DE (2009) –MOKS, Mooste EE (2012) –Tuned City Event for Sound+Architecture, Berlin DE –Danish Institute of Electro/acoustic Music, Aarhus (2008) DK (2011) –Music and New Media, Impakt Festival, Utrecht NL –Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Cologne DE (2003) (2009) –Next 5 Minutes Festival of Tactical Media, De Balie, –Access Space, Sheffield, UK (2008) Amsterdam NL (2003) –Tesla, Berlin DE (2007) –Acoustic.Space.Lab RIXC, Riga LV (2001) –Elektronmusikstudion EMS/Fylkingen, Stockholm SE (2007) AWARDS –Solar Circuit Aotearoa New Zealand (SCANZ), New Plymouth NZ (2006) –Stipend, Foundation of Lower Saxony, Edith-Russ- –STEIM, Amsterdam NL (2005, 2008) Haus, Oldenburg DE (2014) –Medienturm, Graz AT (2003) –Grand Prize 2006 for Soundtransit.nl (w/ S. Kolster, –K@2, Liepaja LV (2003) M. Boon), NetArts.Org, Tokyo JP (2006) –Second Prize for resonanCITY (w/ S. Kolster), WRO Biennale, Wroclaw, PL (2005) –Two Year Basis Stipendium, Fonds voor beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam NL (2005)